Interview: Sergen Kumas

Editing: Kemal Rutkay Özcan

On Saturday night, Detroit Pistons took on Philadelphia 76ers as part of their four-game road tour. 76ers managed to get the 103-108 win at the end of a tough game. Following the second loss in a row, Pistons’ guard Ish Smith spoke with TrendBasket on the game, coming back to Philly, the city of Detroit and the Pistons.

Ish, you guys came back in this game. You guys were down pretty much in the second quarter. But, you guys came in the third quarter, outscored the Sixers 33-17. What prevents you guys in the 4th quarter to actually finish the game off strong?

We usually finish off pretty well. Tonight, just kinda ran out of gas. They’re a good team, so they just kinda kept pushing through, kept pressing through. We missed some shots we usually make; they closed it out. That’s a heck of a team, it was a good game. But, that’s kind of preventing us. I just think we ran out of gas in the end, and they just kept putting it on.

I got to ask, you being a former Sixer and coming back into the city you know after about, 2-3 years after being here and things like that. When you come back into this team and into this organization, do you still feel like you a bond with this team in regards to the players, staff, and things like that?

You know some of the guys, Rob, Nick, Joel, some of the other guys were still here; I’m missing some guys. T.J [McConnell], Joel, and some of the guys were still here, so we got a really good connection. The whole coaching staff is still here. So, it’s cool, I’m happy for the city; I’m happy for the team. We’re playing well, Philly’s playing well, the whole East [Conference] is playing well. It makes every night competitive; things are trending up for both teams.

Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

Smith missed all of his four field goal attempts and didn’t score in 19 minutes of play. However, he filled the stat sheet with 2 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal.

And with you guys, you guys are 14-8. I think, second or third in the Eastern Conference? When it comes to things like offensive efficiency, players like yourself, Andre Drummond, Tobias Harris, everyone’s getting better. What’s one thing you can name to improve yourself in regards to your game?

I think for me it’s our new offense we run. The new offense is a lot of moving, a lot of cutting. Offensively with my speed, you know when you get me on the move, it’s pretty hard and difficult to guard. I think that’s been an attribute to everybody, it’s helped us all. You can’t game plan for it because you never know when a random pin down is coming or a back screen and different things like that. So, it’s helped us all and it’s been good for us.

Lastly, you’ve been kind of like a journeyman in the NBA. You playing for, you know, for a few teams in the past few seasons. Looking back on your career now, when you compare the Pistons to the teams you played with before, what makes Detroit different from the teams and cities you’ve played for in the past?

The city’s been great, the coaching staff’s been great; it just kind of fits. It’s kind of hard to explain but, I need that journey that I went through to make me prepared for Detroit, to grow, to learn from different players. It’s helped me prepare for the situation I’m in now.